Firm and Provider News

The National Arbitration Forum announces the release of the 2007 ADR Law & Policy Year in Review. The review names and summarizes what it considers the most significant arbitration and mediation cases of 2007.
Cases included in the Year in Review are:

UHY International has been named one of the first full members of the Forum of Firms after reporting it has implemented a globally coordinated quality assurance program, committed to the use of International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), and met other specific ethics requirements, the Forum announced today.

Recommind, a leading provider of enterprise search, automatic categorization and eDiscovery systems for law firms and enterprises, and iCONECT Development, LLC, a leader in litigation support and collaboration software, have announced a strategic alliance that will combine Recommind's Axcelerate eDiscovery application with iCONECT's nXT and eXT Web-based...

John H. Estey, chief of staff to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell from 2003 to 2007 and later senior adviser to the governor, left government service on February 15 to join Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP as a partner, leading a new Government Relations & Regulatory Affairs Practice that will serve as a strategic partner to business clients...

The Texas-based law firm of McKool Smith, P.C., has announced the opening of a new office in New York, and the addition of veteran intellectual property trial attorney Robert A. Cote to lead the office.

Gibbons P.C. has appointed Luis J. Diaz to the role of chief diversity officer. While Gibbons has been honored for its commitment to diversity and inclusion by various publications including Multi-Cultural Law and Working Mother, the firm is creating this new role to enhance its existing diversity program and to help make a meaningful and lasting impact on...

Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A. has announced that Jeremy I. Silberman and Padraig P. Flanagan have been named members of the firm.
Mr. Silberman practices in the firm's Litigation Group,representing clients in a wide range of matters, including franchise and distributorship terminations, construction claims, and equipment lease claims.

Cozen O'Connor has been honored with a 2008 Pro Bono Awardfrom The National Law Journal (NLJ).
Each year, the NLJ recognizes the lawyers and law firms that have worked to ensure that legal rights are not contingent on an individual's ability to pay for an attorney. Cozen O'Connor was recognized for the firm's work as lead private counsel in the...

Holland & Knight has announced that Justice Joseph P. Sullivan has become of counsel to the firm's New York office. A former presiding judge of the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, in New York City, he stepped down as an associate judge from the Court on December 31.

Partners from the law firms Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP (K&L Gates) and Hughes & Luce LLP (H&L) have voted to combine the two firms, creating a law firm of more than 1,500 lawyers in 23 offices located throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Jones Day has announced that Willis J. Goldsmith has taken over as partner-in-charge (PIC) of the firm's New York office. On January 1, Mr. Goldsmith succeeded Dennis W. LaBarre, who served as PIC for 21 years, and will continue as a partner in the firm.
Jones Day's New York office is the firm's largest with more than 300 lawyers.
Since Mr....

WolfBlock has announced that John M. Loalbo has joined the firm as partner in the Private Client Services and Business Litigation Practice Groups and will be resident in the firm's Roseland, NJ office.

Representing the New York County Democratic Party in the U.S. Supreme Court case of New York State Board of Elections v. Lopez-Torres, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld lawyers led by Andrew Rossman of the New York office won a long-debated and hotly contested case regarding the way in which justices to the New York State Supreme Court (the trial court of...

Stradley Ronon partner Paul A. Patterson was recently elected to a three-year term on the firm's board of directors. Chairman William R. Sasso and Financial Partner Thomas J. Renehan Jr. were re-elected to the board, also for a three-year term.
As chair of the bankruptcy & creditor's rights practice group and co-chair of the firm's finance and...

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP has announced that Gary D. Friedman has joined the firm as a partner in the Litigation/Regulatory Department and Employment Litigation Group, and will be resident in the New York City office.

The Thomson Corporation has established a strategic presence in the emerging business-to-business social networking space, announcing recently the addition of Boston-based Contact Networks, and its enterprise relationship management (ERM) product, ContactNet, to its portfolio of business intelligence and relationship management services for legal and other...

Justin P. Klein, a partner in the Business and Finance Department at Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, was awarded the 2007 Dennis H. Replansky Memorial Award by the Philadelphia Bar Association Business Law Section in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the local and legal communities. Mr. Klein received the honor at the Business Law...

Loeb & Loeb LLP has announced that Elizabeth L. Majers will join the firm's Chicago office as a partner in the Corporate Department, working in the Commercial Finance and Bankruptcy, Workouts and Creditors Rights practice groups.

Nixon Peabody LLP has named Richard F. Langan Jr. to serve as the firm's chief executive officer and managing partner.
Mr. Langan will become leader of the firm and assume the titles of CEO and managing partner effective May 1 at which time current CEO and Managing Partner Harry P. Trueheart III will become the non-executive chairman of Nixon Peabody....

Thomas J. O'Leary, a newly appointed partner at Connell Foley LLP, recently prevailed in a wrongful death case brought against Transportation Insurance Company (TIC), a subsidiary of the seventh largest commercial insurer in the U.S. The case was decided after six years of litigation.

McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP has announced that the firm has elected 17 new partners, effective January 1. They are:
• S. Derek Bauer, Atlanta office, a partner in the Litigation Practice Group, who specializes in health care, media, First Amendment and civil rights litigation.
• Joseph O. Blanco, Atlanta office, a partner in the...